South Carolina H 3868: Firearms Criminal Background Checks

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3868 Text of Previous Version (Jan. 30, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3868

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING ARTICLE 
2 TO CHAPTER 31, TITLE 23 SO AS TO REQUIRE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND 
CHECKS BEFORE ANY SALE, EXCHANGE, OR TRANSFER OF FIREARMS IN THIS STATE AND TO PROVIDE 
PROCEDURES FOR THE BACKGROUND CHECKS; TO REQUIRE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL 
BACKGROUND CHECKS AT GUN SHOWS AND TO PROVIDE PROCEDURES FOR THE BACKGROUND 
CHECKS; AND TO EXEMPT RECORDS KEPT FROM DISCLOSURE AS PUBLIC RECORDS UNDER THE 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AND TO PROVIDE A PENALTY FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE 
ARTICLE.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Chapter 31, Title 23 of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

Article 2

Firearms Criminal Background Checks

 Section 
23-31-70. For purposes of this article, the term:

 (1) 
"Antique firearm" means:

 (a) 
a firearm, including a firearm with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or 
similar type of ignition system, manufactured in or before 1898; and

 (b) 
a replica of a firearm described in subitem (a) if such replica:

 (i) 
is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional 
centerfire-fixed ammunition; or

 (ii) 
uses rimfire or conventional centerfire-fixed ammunition which is no longer 
manufactured in the United States and which is not readily available in the 
ordinary channels of commercial trade.

 (2) 
"Firearm" means a weapon, including a starter gun, which will, is designed to, 
or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an 
explosive; the frame or receiver of such weapon; a firearm muffler or firearm 
silencer; or a destructive device; but the term does not include an antique 
firearm. In the case of a licensed collector, the term means only curios and 
relics.

 (3) 
"Firearm frame or receiver" means that part of a firearm which provides housing 
for the hammer, bolt or breechblock, and firing mechanism, and which is usually 
threaded at its forward portion to receive the barrel.

 (4) 
"Firearm muffler or firearm silencer" means a device for silencing, muffling, 
or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of 
parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or 
fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only 
for use in such assembly or fabrication.

 Section 
23-31-80. (A) In addition to any 
other requirements pursuant to state and federal law, all sales, exchanges, or 
transfers of firearms must be conducted in accordance with the provisions of 
this article unless the sale, exchange, or transfer is conducted by a licensed 
importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer, as those terms are defined 
in 18 U.S.C. Section 922, when the sale, exchange, or transfer is conducted 
pursuant to that person's federal firearms license or the sale, exchange, or 
transfer is between members of an immediate family. For purposes of this 
section, "immediate family" means spouses, domestic partners, children, and 
stepchildren.

 (B) 
Before any sale, exchange, or transfer pursuant to the provisions of this 
article, a national instant criminal background check pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 
Section 922 must be completed by a licensed dealer who consents to conduct the 
check, and upon completion of the background check, shall complete a document, 
the form of which shall be approved by the Chief of the State Law Enforcement 
Division (SLED), that identifies and confirms that the check was performed.

 (C) A 
licensed gun dealer may not deliver a firearm to any transferee unless the NICS 
provides the licensed dealer with a unique identification number or thirty days 
have elapsed from the date the licensed dealer contacted the NICS and the NICS 
has not notified the licensed dealer that a sale or transfer to such person 
would violate state or federal law.

 (D) 
All dealers shall maintain a record of transactions conducted pursuant to this 
article and the record must be maintained on the premises mentioned and 
described in the license and must be open at all reasonable hours for 
inspection by any law enforcement officer acting in the scope of his 
employment.

 Section 
23-31-90. (A) A national instant 
criminal background check must be conducted and a person may not sell, 
exchange, or transfer a firearm at a gun show in this State except in 
accordance with the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 922 and the provisions of this 
section.

 (B) A 
person may not offer or agree to sell, exchange, or transfer a firearm to 
another person at a gun show in this State and transfer or deliver a firearm to 
another person, or person acting on his behalf, at a locati